Back then, when I was a little child, I already loved digging. And history. And stories. Stories which were hidden or buried somewhere. I wanted to become an archeologist. I was born in a country with mountains. Slate. It was a magical world.. A lot of hidden stories there as well. In the mountains, their forrests and inbetween their rocks, lived the forrest spirits. Some of them half animal, half human. They were old and wise, and some of them trolllike creatures. I was convinced that the mountains themselves were alive too. As a mountain, or as individual stones or rocks they had their own characters and souls. And one way or the other one was able to communicate with them. Even the grown-ups around me, a Swiss valley people; an agricultural community, enhanced this image for me. They spoke about the mountains as if they were persons; sometimes playing tricks on them or being treacherous, other times telling them what kind of day or weather it was going to be. In many ways these people's existance depended on this communication. Yes, I was sure that these mountains, with their vast power and wisdom, knew about existance. Some, or all of it lay hidden there. An energetic world, where there also was a different concept of time. Finiteness and infinity (as far as we can understand those things) in one glance, one breath, one moment. It is where one feels small, but at the same time experiences the power of existance. And one's presence inside of it.

 

It may be clear why I prefer to work in stone. Here it also is a way of digging. I work with the method of 'Direct Carving' (Taille Directe). Meaning: I undo the sculpture from the stone around it. 'Taille Direct' is based on the concept that the sculpture is already in the stone and as an artist you help it liberate itself. So, you work without drafts, preliminary sketches or designs, straight into the material. I believe that many sculptures can hide in one stone,. but that, through communication between this very artist and this very stone, this very sculpture will emerge. The digging I do is an archeological attempt to understand what it means to be human. An emotion is uncovered in a stylized and figurative way. A story which is not finished and will never be finished. I only dig for it to become visible and recognisable. I call it archeological because what I make visible is not anything new. The things that make us human have always been there. But when we go through these things,we don't experience them as archaic.We feel them as something direct and personal. As something of the moment which often is hard to find words for. Or hard enough to grant it a niche in our existence time on time again. To live through an emotion is a new experience each time. Even though we have lived it a thousand times, or even though we recognise it when we see it. An archeologist uncovers the details of a certain part of history. Layer for layer. Carefully. And that is what I do as a sculptor. I solely undress something old that becomes new when you look at it with all your unicity.

 

 

 

 


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